A5 a river of rented limousines flowed up to United Nations headquarters in Manhattan last week and disgorged delegates for the opening session of the General Assembly, a dour-faced old man stood across the street holding aloft a hand-lettered sign: THE U.N. is A FARCE. Nobody seemed to take notice except a group of high-school students waiting for a bus nearby. One of them tore out a page of notebook paper, scribbled a few words on it and hoisted his rejoinder: DON'T KNOCK IT. IT'S ALL WE GOT.
Among the representatives from 125* nations who launched the General Assembly's 24th session, a similar mixture of muted hope and outright despair seemed to prevail. Few expected the 13-week session to produce much progress in settling the world's major conflicts in Viet Nam and the Middle East. Still, there was always the possibility that some crises could be eased at private diplomatic meetings in the town houses and apartments of New York. At one such meeting, held in U.N. Secretary-General U Thant's 38th-floor office suite at week's end, representatives of the U.S., Russia, Britain and France agreed to resume Big Four talks on the Mideast after a ten-week hiatus.
Gradual Decline. For all the behind-the-scenes activity, many delegates voiced growing impatience with the U.N.'s impotence in the face of international crises. Some of the bluntest words came from the General Assembly's new President, outspoken Angie Brooks of Liberia (see box). Last year's General Assembly, she said in her acceptance speech, was "the opposite of dynamism." Delegates had "ignored or sidetracked" important world problems, she charged, thus accelerating "the gradual decline of the U.N. in the eyes of the public."
Despite Miss Brooks' scolding, the atmosphere smacked more of the first day at prep school than of a world body confronted with an awesome catalogue of crises. Delegates greeted one another cheerfully, applauded when the Swaziland delegates marched barefoot to their seats wearing brilliant red printed togas and feathers in their hair and openly ogled Mrs. Shirley Temple Black as she took her place for the first time with the U.S. delegation.
Neither the U.S. nor the Soviet Union, in their major speeches, offered much promise that the current session would be more dynamic or productive than its predecessors. President Nixon, in his first appearance before the General Assembly, emphasized that U.S. steps toward peace in Viet Nam, including the bombing halt and troop withdrawals, have been "responsive to views expressed in this room." Accordingly, he asked delegates of all nations to turn their "best diplomatic efforts" to persuading Hanoi to make a few concessions too. The delegates, apparently disappointed that the President had failed to unveil new plans for peace in his speech, applauded perfunctorily and did not accord him the standing ovation normally given to heads of state.